


the forest

by fan_nerd



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, mythology/nymph au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 21:58:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9092332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fan_nerd/pseuds/fan_nerd
Summary: An ethereal creature pops out of the water, skin shimmering in the morning light of the forest, hair silver and eyes the same color of the water they had emerged from. The creature’s pupils narrow at the sight of the human on the banks, who is shivering. There is something like a set of gills across the column supporting their human-like head, and the creature softly croaks out, “How did you get here?”Yuuri gulps, barely managing to whisper back, “I walked.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> hello everybody!! here's another fic i wrote [for a request](http://wbtrashking.tumblr.com/tagged/wtk-requests), but i got massively carried away, lmao. this is beta'd by the lovely [@capshere](http://capshere.tumblr.com/) on tumblr!! follow them, they're so great uvu;;
> 
> thank you fandom for all your support!!! i'm such an anxious bean, it means the world to me to talk to you guys and the amount of lovely words i've received is startling!! wow. just. thank you. ♥♥♥

Yuuri likes to wander in the woods, even though he knows that people in the village whisper that he’s not supposed to be there. He enjoys nature; its’ soft, sweet sounds; the peace of the sun rising while his boots crunch over leaves and the roots of trees.

He eventually arrives at the edge of a waterfall, sticking his toes into the pooling water where the crashing water is too far away to splash his bag. The olive-skinned young man pulls out a thick block of wood and his freshly polished tools. Yuuri spends about an hour humming to himself, soothed by the rhythmic movement of the metal against wood until a strange noise resounds and he looks up in fright.

The young man pushes up his glasses and carefully puts most of his wood carving supplies away. He leaves a paring gouge out so that he can fight, if need be, but his knees are honestly shaking, and he’s sure that he’ll collapse before he can defend himself.

An ethereal creature pops out of the water, skin shimmering in the morning light of the forest, hair silver and eyes the same color of the water they had emerged from. The creature’s pupils narrow at the sight of the human on the banks, who is shivering. There is something like a set of gills across the column supporting their human-like head, and the creature softly croaks out, “How did you get here?”

Yuuri gulps, barely managing to whisper back, “I walked.”

The creature, flat-chested and unspeakably beautiful, swims to the bank where Yuuri’s feet are, surprising the tan youth. When a pale, shimmering hand comes around his ankle, he screams and stumbles to the ground. His water-bound captor speaks again. “Humans shouldn’t be able to get here. There’s a barrier at the edge of the forest.”

“Sorry,” Yuuri apologizes softly, heart thumping heavily in his chest with fear. “I’m really sorry, I’ll go.”

“Wait,” the creature rasps quietly, blue-green eyes wide with wonder as they stare up at Yuuri. “Since you’re here, could you maybe…tell me about the world?”

Yuuri feels about ready to hyperventilate, so he draws in a shaky breath and asks, “Um…will you let me go if I do?”

The water creature scoffs lowly, rolling their eyes. “I’ll let you go even if you don’t tell me.” They study the human for one more long moment, noting his panic. “My name is Victor. I’m something like a male nymph of this area, and I don’t want to hurt you.” Victor pulls himself up onto the edge of the rocks and Yuuri can see that his legs might not be legs at all, noting the brilliant scales surrounding Victor’s navel. A sweeping pattern is etched on his pale skin, twirling magenta and gray lines painting his back.

Yuuri is still panicked and slightly horrified, but for one long moment, he lets himself think that the nymph is beautiful. “You just want me to…talk about my village?”

“About anything,” Victor brays lowly, his voice obviously choppy with disuse. “I have nothing to sing about if there are no stories to tell.”

“But you put a barrier up to keep people out?” Yuuri’s dark eyes follow the sharp edges of Victor’s shoulders.

“ _I_ didn’t put it up,” Victor replies with a sigh, pillowing his head on his arms. “A sorcerer did. He was worried that I was a threat.”

“To whom?” Yuuri asks nervously, wringing his hands.

Victor rolls his eyes, smiling sadly. “Humans. _Obviously_.”

Yuuri looks at the water creature for a long moment, then he shakily puts down the gouge. “Where should I even start?”

“Wherever you like,” Victor responds softly, flicking his blue-green eyes up at the young man.

//

Yuuri stays to talk for about an hour, starting to relax when Victor laughs and interjects with raspy words, asking questions and smiling while Yuuri tells his tales. He rambles until the sun is fully up in the sky, then panics, because he has to go to work.

Victor raises a hand as he leaves, a sad expression crossing his face. “Goodbye, Yuuri. We’ll probably never see each other again.”

The male nymph is an ephemeral vision in the sun, and Yuuri leaves with a heavy heart. Just before he leaves for good, the brunette looks down sadly and murmurs, “You don’t know that.” He tightens his hold on his bag and stalks out of the forest. Yuuri apologizes to his parents for being late, immediately donning an apron and helping around the restaurant. He and his father sell wooden household goods outside of the storefront; his sister and mother make tapestries, and between all of their work, they make enough money to keep the bar bustling.

He works until the soles of his feet ache, falling asleep almost immediately at the close of the long day. Yuuri waits two more mornings to scrounge up the courage and energy to enter the forest again, hoping that he can remember the path to the cascading waterfall.

It is a frustrating adventure, and he spends an hour getting lost before he stumbles upon the lake, the sound of rushing water suddenly filling his ears. He hurries to the lake’s edge and kicks off his shoes, plunging his legs down into the cold water, hoping that the nymph will see them.

Moments after he settles, adjusting his bag full of woodworks, Victor’s head lifts from the surface and he shakes water out of his eyes. “You’re here,” the creature breathes in wonder, swimming up beside Yuuri and putting his elbows up on the rocks.

“I’m here,” Yuuri replies sheepishly, his smile wobbly. “I thought you might like to hear another story.”

“Sure,” Victor eagerly says, his lips forming a heart as he looks up at Yuuri. “I’d love to.”

//

They make a habit out of meeting twice a week. Most times, Yuuri has to shake the fog out of his head and focus on Victor’s soft voice in the forest, for the nymph sings to make sure the human does not get lost within the sorcerer’s barrier.

Those mornings when Victor sings, his timbre low and haunting, his blue-green eyes are filled with some of the most gloriously beautiful tears Yuuri thinks he’s ever seen. He’s never seen pearls before, but he’s heard that many of the women in their small village covet them. The man announces himself by stepping on a tree branch and Victor turns his smile to Yuuri.

“Do you have a tail?” Yuuri asks, chipping away at his wooden figurine absently. “I know you can stay underwater because of your gills, but are you allowed to get out?”

“It’s somewhat uncomfortable,” Victor replies, blinking the last of his shimmering tears away and hefting his weight up onto the rocks. Yuuri gapes as Victor’s legs - wiry, humanoid, covered in scales - become smoother, more like his own. “I can adjust them, but it’s difficult to maintain the look over an extended period of time.”

“You’re a shapeshifter, too?” Yuuri holds out his hand like he wants to touch, but warily pulls his fingers away, too nervous to go through with the motion.

“It’s an ability I was born with,” Victor answers, leaning his lithe form on Yuuri’s shoulder and laughing when the short human sputters. “You know, nymphs are known for being seductive, dancing with people, charming those at the outskirts of town and enchanting them beyond belief.”

Yuuri frowns, putting his carving tools down to really focus on the creature beside him. “You don’t do any of those things. You hardly sing so that I can find you.”

Victor closes his eyes, his form still damp and, much to Yuuri’s torrid embarrassment, absolutely unclothed. Yuuri draws his eyes from the patterns on Victor’s back to the waterfall a short distance away, shoulder burning where Victor’s cool skin touches his own. “I got in trouble.”

“Huh?” Yuuri’s eyes snap back to the nymph, wide and shocked. “For what?”

The old creature draws in a sigh, looping his hands around his knees. “We’ve always been creatures of nature, nymphs. Traditionally female, but I suppose I was an exception in many ways. One day, I bewitched an important young man from the town, and he fell ill after we met, so the village blamed me.” He pauses when Yuuri shifts, dark brown eyes filled with concern as the human reaches for Victor’s scale-covered hand. “They hunted us, killed my kind, and left me here, perhaps to prove a point. I’m sure you heard rumors about this place.”

“It’s said that danger lurks in this forest, yes,” Yuuri breathes softly, fingers curling around Victor’s. “But you’re no danger. You’re practically human.”

Victor barks out a laugh and slinks back into the water at those words. “That’s what they all say, Yuuri, and then people inevitably get frightened by my appearance, suddenly get sick after speaking to me, or disappear.” His eyes shine, and Yuuri absently wonders if he’ll cry those pearly, glassy tears again, the ones the same color as the cascading waterfall behind him. “I’m not immortal, but I might as well be, and quite frankly, I’m tired.”

“Of what?”

The nymph smiles sadly and closes his eyes. “I’m just...tired.”

//

Yuuri hurries up the sloping hills of the forest, listening for Victor’s soft and raspy voice. As he goes, he struggles to shake the whispered rumors about town that he’s had to hear for months. People keep talking about how the Katsuki boy has lost his soul to the woods, as he wanders about the restaurant in a haze. His parents continue to warn him that he shouldn’t spend so much time there, but he doesn’t care.

Every time Yuuri’s dark eyes land on Victor, eyes nearly glowing as the rising sun reflects off of the lake’s surface, the young man wishes that he were a painter instead of a carpenter. There’s no way that his little trinkets will ever do the nymph justice.

Victor begs to differ, however. “You really think I look like this?” Yuuri brings the creature a towel to dry his hands, touching the unpolished wood with pale, scaled fingers. “This is amazing.”

Yuuri flushes warmly. “My work is just…a tribute. It’s not so great.”

The nymph holds Yuuri’s hand in his own, nuzzles his chin into the human’s arm, and grins. “Liar.”

The human trembles, moving in a fit of boldness to bring his face closer to Victor’s, nearly stumbling into the water as he moves. “Your beauty is too grand to capture in figurines.”

Victor flushes hot over his cheeks, leaning up to chastely kiss the man. “I’m glad that you think so.” Yuuri scoots back a bit in embarrassment, but he doesn’t tug his hand out of Victor’s hold.

//

After two years of wandering beyond the barrier to meet the lonely nymph, Yuuri decides to take up residence in the forest. It isn’t easy, mostly because he has to learn how to hunt and breed animals and build a home. Before he makes a full transition, he commissions several pairs of loosely sewn garments for Victor.

It takes him ten years to move everything he needs to the forest, aging slowly from a young man to a mature one, and Victor remains as ethereal and doe-eyed as he always was. He waits for Yuuri to come to the lake with impatience now, eager to kiss him and talk to him, singing his songs and playing around the surface of the water.

Victor occasionally gets out to join Yuuri in the forest, holding the human’s hand and wearing human clothes, honestly a bit startled to see so much of the world beyond the waterfall. He watches Yuuri’s home expand from a small, stilted cabin into a small farm, and, most captivatingly, he watches a tree just in front of the home become a carving of himself.

The nymph sits and watches Yuuri painstakingly make Victor’s image in the large tree he’s shaved. Twenty years go by like that, where Yuuri softly moves the wood to make Victor’s teary eyes look perfect.

After Yuuri finally finishes his piece, Victor looks at the aging man with concern, suddenly horrified that the human will be gone from his life soon.

“If you made one of me,” Victor says softly, lying on bed beside his human love, “You have to make one of yourself.”

“Why?” Yuuri whispers, curling against Victor’s cool skin for as long as the nymph will stay in bed before heading back to the lake.

“So you can stay with me after you go,” Victor murmurs, kissing the top of Yuuri’s head.

The old man sighs softly, agreeing to start the project the next day, although he’s not particularly proud of his own image.

//

The carved figure of Victor starts to collect moss at the roots, and Yuuri finishes the carving of his own image in autumn. Yuuri is almost sixty, so he’s getting too old to rush around the forest as he used to. Victor helps Yuuri finish his hunting and chores so that Yuuri can dedicate more time to carving. The human makes his own image fresh-faced and beautiful, both of which Yuuri does not think he truly is, but the nymph strongly disagrees. Victor tells him that Yuuri is even more gorgeous than the carved figure, and the man grumbles under his breath.

The roots of the tree that he carved his image into is closer to the edge of the lake, so Victor can be closer to him at all times. Yuuri tells the visage of the nymph outside of his home good night when Victor is too tired to walk away from the waterfall.

Over the years, as he slows and creeps into his sixties, Yuuri dreams that he can talk to his nymph love through his own carving, slipping into sleep and holding Victor’s hands through the roots of that tree.

When Victor comes to see Yuuri, breathing shallowly, he realizes that the very, very small trill of magic running through the human, the amount that had let Yuuri continue to wander into this forest, and, eventually, live in it despite the sorcerer’s preventative barrier, is falling out of him.

Victor weeps when Yuuri passes in his sleep, clutching his weathered hands and crying pearls in the cabin, thick pieces of cried gems crashing onto the wooden frame of the bed that Yuuri had carved himself.

He sings and cries at the lakeside for weeks, wails for no one to hear as he stares at the carving of his old lover. The carving is too young, the eyes too new, and Victor almost hates that he’s forced to remember Yuuri’s absence when he looks at the thing.

And then, in the Spring, the carving moves, breathing fresh and startled, staring at Victor in wonder. The wood shifts into something resembling an etched skin; the eyes become iridescent for a moment before settling into a slightly aged white, deep chocolate irises forming.

Yuuri comes back to life, startled by the nymph’s desperate clasp around his waist. “Victor, stop it.” The man who is no longer human flushes, absently carding a hand through Victor’s hair. “You’re hurting me.”

Victor gapes, loosening his grasp. Yuuri smiles down at him, earthen and lovely and soft, despite being formed of wood.

His love _lives_ , and Victor cries heavy tears of relief.

//

Yuuri dips his toes in the water, reveling at the sensation. It feels like he’s being revived, which, he supposes, he is. “How did this happen?”

Victor shakes his head, draping himself over Yuuri, as though swimming away will make the tree-dwelling spirit disappear. “There could be many reasons. In history, my kind theorized that our natural lives were attached to trees. Perhaps your soul came to dwell in my tree, and the gods granted us a chance to remain tied together forever.”

Yuuri dons a shaky smile, leaning into Victor’s touch. “Well, whatever the reason is, I’m glad.” For the first time in many years, Yuuri slips into the water beside Victor, stepping on the shallow banks, and presses a hand gently to the nymph’s jaw. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

Victor’s throat feels horrible, but he barks out a laugh, kisses Yuuri quickly, and wraps his hands around the smaller creature. “Me neither,” he whispers. Victor smiles as Yuuri blushes prettily, pushing Yuuri’s dark, leaf-littered hair out of his face. “I love you,” Victor says, having never gotten the chance to say so when Yuuri was a man.

Yuuri clasps Victor’s hand underwater, ghosting the other hand over Victor’s sensitive gills. “I love you too,” he replies, closing his eyes to kiss the nymph again.

//

A blonde child hurries around the edge of the forest one day many years in the future, and a couple from the small town warns him not to go too deep into it.

The forest is dangerous, and many who go in _do_ come back, although they are changed, the couple warns. Trilling voices and whispers in the tree branches are elusive, and they warn the boy not to trust anything he hears.

He ignores them and enters the woods, sure that such a beautiful forest could not hold too terrible a danger, feeling welcomed by the trees and a song of love high on the wind.

**Author's Note:**

> chat w/ me on tumblr[@wbtrashking](http://wbtrashking.tumblr.com)!! rq's are closed until dec 31 tho. :3


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